KARACHI: The Customs Appellate Tribunal has adjourned the hearing of an appeal for the refund of foreign currency confiscated from a passenger as no one showed up to represent the Collectorate of Preventive, Karachi.
According to details, the appellant Eijaz Hussain, who was heading Dubai, was arrested from the restricted area after being checked in and was issued the boarding card after he disclosed on interrogation that he was carrying foreign currency worth $ 33,000, in Dirhams and US dollars, which is against the law that allows a person could not take more than $ 10,000 money outside the country. The appellant was arrested and later got a bail from Customs and Taxation Court.
Appellant’s lawyer Mustafa Safvi argues that as per the findings of the Additional Collector of the Adjudication department this was not a case of currency smuggling because there was no attempt to conceal the currency as well as the appellant informed officials about the exact amount of foreign currency that he was carrying and also handed it over to the officials.
The Additional Collector also did not charge the appellant but confiscated $ 23,000 which was beyond and above the $ 30,000. The Tribunal will hear the case in the second week of November.
